WARM UP, ENERGIZE! Most choral singers arrive at evening rehearsals exhausted after a long day's work, so it's important to begin with an overall physical warm up. Stretching, "loosening" exercises and calisthenics "wake up" the body, while "yawning" and relaxed humming gradually get the voice going before more extensive vocalizing. Warming up should begin in the car, en route to the rehearsal.

THINK POSTURE! A "collapsed" posture limits breathing capacity and puts stress on laryngeal muscles. Most choral singers rehearse sitting down, with music in hand -- a position that often becomes inefficient, through "slumping" back in the chair, crossing the legs, etc. "Sitting up" may seem to require effort, but in fact, an erect, well-balanced sitting posture is less tiring in the long run. A good concept is to imagine the head "floating" directly above the pelvis, and the rib cage expanded. The music should be raised to eye level, however the shoulders must remain relaxed. Both feet should be "flat on the floor". When standing during a performance, be careful not to "lock" the legs. Always wear comfortable shoes -- no high heels! A rigid stance, combined with nervous tension and inadequate ventilation can cause choir members to feel faint, and occasionally lose consciousness!

BREATHE! This may seem obvious, but many choral singers simply do not allow themselves an adequate breath, and instead, "gasp" for air in order to stay with the conductor's beat. Admittedly, breath management can be challenging in group singing. Good choral directors are aware of this, and endeavor to indicate breathing with their conduction gestures. Ultimately, however, it is the singer's own responsibility to maintain efficient breath support.

SING THE RIGHT PART! Singers may be incorrectly classified in order to accommodate the needs of the choral group. Tenors are often scarce, so baritones may be induced to sing the tenor part, which can strain the voice. It is possible to use certain vocal techniques, such as singing falsetto in the upper register, to render the voice more versatile. If you are uncomfortable singing in the required range, and suspect that you are "mis-placed", request a change of part or help with vocal technique. It is hoped that choral conductors will guide singers in the best possible use of their voice.

DON'T OVER-SING! Singing loudly in order to hear oneself over other singers usually stresses the voice. "Showing off" one's voice is inappropriate in group singing -- it doesn't contribute well to a choral "blend," and it is usually resented by fellow singers! If you need to check the accuracy of your pitch, simply put a finger in one ear. Even when fortissimo singing is required, it is wise not to push the voice -- always sing on the "interest," not the "principal"!

ARTICULATE WISELY! Discomfort in singing is often caused by tension in the articulation of consonants and vowels. Choral singers are generally encouraged to enunciate clearly, but care should be taken that the jaw, tongue, and lips remain as relaxed as possible. Furthermore, it is necessary to modify pronunciation for efficiency and ease of vocal production; for example, sopranos need to "open" vowels on high notes.

PREPARE YOUR MUSIC! Whenever possible, try to learn your part before coming to the rehearsal. If you are insecure about pitch, it is unlikely that you will sing well. Hesitation impedes good vocal technique!

AVOID TALKING! Not only is chatting disruptive to others (especially the conductor!), but it tires the voice.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! Being a choir member is the same as being a member of an athletic team, and you have a responsibility to safeguard your health. Avoid smoke and alcohol -- partying should be postponed until after the final performance! Get plenty of sleep and aerobic exercise. "Hydrate" -- drink plenty of fluids in order to reduce irritating phlegm. Use common sense when you're sick -- if possible, miss a rehearsal rather then sing over a cold or flu, and avoid exposing other choir members to your germs!

TAKE VOICE LESSONS! If you really want to maximize your enjoyment of choral singing, a few voice lessons can provide valuable insight. Ideally, your teacher should understand and appreciate both choral and solo singing techniques.

1. The significance of the diaphragm as a muscle of breath support is over-emphasized by most music singing schools and teachers. The diaphragm has two jobs: it furnishes the power for inhalation and then controls tone support.

2. When you take a breath for singing -- to open the throat -- add a yawning feeling as you're about to produce the tone (the beginning of a yawn, to be exact).

3. Be sure the shoulders do not raise when taking a breath.

4. If you can hear your inhalation, you're taking in too much air or your stomach is tense. Be sure your stomach is relaxed before, and as, you inhale.

5. Always inhale gently when singing. Heavy gasping of air will tighten your throat.

6. Posture is the foundation. Be sure your posture is erect when singing -- not a military stance, but comfortably upright. This positions you for maximum support.

7. Always imagine the sound that you want to make and then sing it -- using all resources available -- your entire physical being, emotions, psyche and spirit.

8. A tight jaw is bad for good singing. Do whatever is necessary to relieve your jaw, neck and shoulders of tension before you sing.

9. Don't smoke. Smoking puts at risk the entire mechanism you're going to stake your claim to a vocal career upon.

10. Don't try to imitate another singer's voice. Discover your own, unique, vocal identity.

Don't do anything that will hurt your voice in any way

When looking for a teacher, ask about his/her backgroud in music, and whether they are willing to help you learn how to sing something other than their style of singing

Just because a singer sounds nice doesn't mean s/he can sing

When you are learning to sing, you are doing it to find out what your voice is capable of, not someone else's; be happy with what you have

To those who want to sing pop music: There is nothing wrong with learning classical

To those who wish to sing classical: There is nothing wrong with learning popular

You are not the person on the radio-don't try to imitate them unless you are trying to learn something

No, all vocal removers are NOT ALIKE! We Invented the world's first Vocal EliminatorTM back in 1976. Even our early analog units outperform any alternatives! Far beyond every one else's simple L-R simple center channel elimination scheme the VE4 uses advanced and proprietary Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithms to remove more vocal with less loss of background instruments. We use two totally different methods to remove the voice. One of the methods actually reduces some (not all) of the reverberation that can remain on some recordings! We preserve almost all of the stereo content and do not go to mono the way a L-R scheme does.
You can actually create a simple free L-R eliminator without any equipment! Just connect the Left Plus (L+) and Right Plus (R+) speaker outputs on your amplifier to a single speaker and the center channel will be removed! You can use the balance control to fine tune the voice if it is off center. We never considered this acceptable and even our early analog units in the 70's and 80's fine tuned both level as well as time delay offsets between the two channels to maximize high frequency elimination. We also went to great lengths to restore the Bass signal as well. No one else (as far as we know) has even gone as far as we did in the 70's ! !
Today, with DSP, it's a totally different world! Now we will be the first to admit that improvements are not linear! Don't expect that if you throw 100x the effort and expense at a problem, you are going to get 100x the result!

Thompson Vocal Eliminator

CAVS DVD-303G is the next generation of DVD Karaoke system that plays DVD, MPEG-4, Super CD+G, CD+G, HDCD, and CD. This machine has everything you're looking for. You can just connect it to a TV and start enjoying karaoke right away. Its that easy since it has its own built in 70 watt speaker system you won't have to connect it to a separate amplifier and speaker system if entertaining a small group. If you ever find the 70 Watts isn't enough, its easy to expand this player for use with a separate amplifier and speaker system. This system will even allow you to record your singing, just use the cassette deck that's built in to this machine.

There's a lot more features packed into this machine. To make things even easier for you, there's the direct access 0-9 buttons right on the machine. Just key in the number to your favorite songs and begin singing. No need to forward through all the unwanted tracks. You can also change the keys to match the singers voice to the music and adjust the echo to your preference. And of course we know some peoples voices are soft spoken while others are louder so this machine offers a solution -Individual microphone volume control. This way when two people are singing, you can adjust the microphone volume so no ones voice is more dominant than the other. This machine is designed for parties, retailers, professionals and KJs in mind.

Enjoy new Super CD+G karaoke discs in this new powerful system. The concept of the Super CD+G format is simple. By compressing the song track of karaoke music into MP3 format and storing the data on a 9 Gigabyte DVD disc, you can store up to 2,000 karaoke songs on a single DVD!

The Super CD+G discs are convenient and economical for parties and rentals. From now on, instead of wasting time searching for your favorite tunes, you can spend more time singing them. Song ordering is simple. All you do is punch in the 3 digit song number from the song book, and your song will start right away. No more scratching your discs since you don't have to swap discs in and out any more.

The smile technique, taught by many teachers is actually detrimental to vocal health and good vocal sound. Yes, it does make the sound brighter and somewhat louder but this is just a quick fix solution. In actual fact the sound will also become very thin and tinny, with no 'bottom end' or lower harmonics - I call it the chipmunk sound! Scientific studies using fiberoptic research has demonstrated that the smile technique raises the larynx, lowers the soft palate, moves the jaw forward and prevents proper closure of the vocal cords - all of which are detrimental to good singing.

So if you'd like to sound like a pro singer instead of a chipmunk, the correct technique is to smile inwardly by lifting the soft palate, without spreading the lips into a smile. If you look in the mirror whilst you do this you'll see the (zygomatic) muscles at the top part of your cheeks lift up very slightly. You may feel a sensation of being very light in the head, like you're on the moon with less gravity! Once you become used to the concept of smiling inwardly, which can take time to develop, you'll realise just how awkward and ineffective the old smile technique was

Review for the Disney Classic Plug-n-Play Handheld Karaoke Player:

We have a blast with this toy! Its cables connect easily to the front of our VCR/DVD player [best done by an adult] And it helps my beginning reader improve his word recognition and fluency, by reading the lyrics as the words light up on screen. The kidslove hearing their voices come out of the TV, and they especially like the feature that modifies the output of your voice [dragon, horse, mouse, or bird] But there are a few things I don't like- the placement of the buttons on the barrel of the microphone, for one thing, and the fact that despite the product description claiming the availability of additional song cartridges, I've been unable to find them. I have tried Circuit City and Disney Electronics online. There, three cartridges are described, butthey each contain only ten songs [compared to the 25 included when you purchase the microphone] and many of them are duplicates of songs already on the microphone when you buy it. Even so, I would still purchase this product and recommend it to others, though $50 is a little pricey, given the lack of available accessories promised.